Harvesters of various types, including sugarcane harvesters, may include harvesting devices of various types. Harvesting devices for a sugarcane harvester may include, for example, assemblies for cutting, chopping, sorting, transporting, and otherwise gathering and processing sugarcane plants. Typical harvesting devices may include basecutter assemblies (or “basecutters”), feed rollers, cutting drums, and so on. In various harvesters, harvesting devices may be hydraulically powered by an engine-driven or other pump.
To actively harvest crops, a harvester may move along a field with harvesting devices operating to gather plant material from fields. Certain harvesting devices may also process gathered material in various ways. In known configurations, for example, a basecutter for a sugarcane harvester may be pivotally attached to a frame of the harvester and may include one or more spindles configured to be rotated by one or more hydraulic motors. Multiple cutting blades may be mounted to disks at the ends of the spindles, such that rotating the spindles rotates the blades to cut sugarcane. After sugarcane is cut from the ground by the blades, the rotating disks may direct the cut sugarcane rearward toward the feed train of the harvester (e.g., toward a set of intake feed rollers at the front of the sugarcane chassis). Paddles or other features may also be provided on the spindles, in order to further direct cut sugarcane toward the feed train.
The rotational speed of the cutting blades may be a relevant factor in the effectiveness of cutting operations with a basecutter. The rotational speed of disks, paddles or other features for directing cut sugarcane into the feed train may also be important. Further, configuration of other features of a basecutter, such as cutting blades, paddles, and so on, may also contribute to improved harvesting performance Accordingly, it may be useful to provide a basecutter with improved control of rotational speeds and other improved functionality.